Motorcycles - I hope this isn't off topic

But I know from many messages on many threads that a lot of our friends use both engine powered and human powered 2 wheelers.

Maybe people would like to read about our best rides - machines and experiences.

I'll start

Lambretta LI 125, age 16, went from North Yorkshire to Dorset and back, 400 mile round trip, in rendezvoux with my first girlfriend. I wouldn't recommend it

Triumph Tiger Cub, 200 cc, used it every month Yorkshire to Brighton, 200 miles each way, for 3 years. I would wholeheartedly recommend it

Yamaha YAS 1, 125 2 cylinder 2 stroke. What a wonderful bike. Used for long motorway trips, over 7,000 over 5 years, it'd sit on a motorway at 70 mph, vastly more than anyone could expect from a 125.

Kawasaki Z400. Unfashionable - but oil tight and a better copy of a Triumph Tiger than the original. Yorkshire to Fez in Morocco twice, and my commuter all around Yorkshire doing a training job, going to shift change mills with an overhead projector on the carrier, winter and summer

However, if I were to compare the m.cycles to the pedal cycles, I'm equally fond of my Specialised Sirrus Triple (1990 lugged steel) as I was of my Africa Twin - neither the fastest, neither am I, but strong and steady

Honda CJ360T Good economical first bike. I put a lot of miles on this bike and learned a lot from it both in terms of riding skills and motorcycle mechanics.

Moto Guzzi Ambassador 750cc road bike touring bike that just loved chugging down the road. Great handling and very comfortable on the road. The bike was white with black accents and looked quite a bit like a police bike so I got quite a bit of respect on the road. The bike had handlebar fairing and saddlebags. I put more than 50,000 on this bike.

1964 250MkIII Ducati. Great little sport bike very speedy for a 250cc 4 stroke. I still own this but it is not licensed for the street.

Norton Commando 750 Cafe Racer built with cafe tank seat and fairing from Dick's Cycle West based on the British Dunstall motorcycle accessories. The bike had a very fast 750cc combat engine and would flatten your eyeballs on command.

Triumph 750 Bonneville Late 70s bike that never did much for me. I picked it up for a song, fixed it up, rode it for a while and sold it after I decided I wasn't that excited by it.

2001 Kawasaki Concours My current bike and a very capable sport touring ride. Has factory fairing and saddlebags. 1000cc so you don't want for additional power very often.

Way back when I used to make my living as a motorcycle mechanic so I would occasionally buy bikes to fix up and flip. So I have owned more than these.

I've had a bunch of scooters two 50cc and 125cc. I moved up to a small cruiser and rode that for 7 years. Sold it and only ride bicycles now. One too many close calls on the road almost left my kids without a father and I was lucky in that my gear and the bike took the hit not me. I'd rather commute using my own power these days.

Honda CB-100, 1973. Cost me $400 plus tax for a total of $405. Bagged a lot of groceries to pay for it. Moved out of cycling to motorcycles at 15.

Kawasaki 125, Enduro, 1975 : traded the Honda for it, the start of my hooligan years. ;-) Hit a dog doing 65 mph on it and took up about 50-yards of dirt road. Missed two basketball games and during the game where I was finally allowed to play, I dripped blood all over a brand new wood floor at a particular school. They were not amused.

Honda 400F - 1976: jeebus - a redline of 10,500 in an engine that ran like a sewing machine. Totaled it outside of Maxwell AFB. Was scooped up by the base ambulance and taken to the hospital where I also worked. Road-rash - all over. They made me stay in the hospital due to that alone...couldn't send me to the dorm. Got a visit from a USAF jag who questioned me about the accident. I assume that they wanted to court-marshal me. Didn't happen though. Moved back into cycling.

BMW 650GS, 2001: the start of adventure riding - Mojave Desert, Copper Canyon - loved it too. Sold it to Al Jesse who makes Jesse Luggage. My 650 was used by Al for the final fit for his luggage.

KTM 950: more adventure riding - mostly Copper Canyon and CO. Hit a deer coming home from an advrider rally. KTM 1, Deer 0. Sold it and moved back into cycling. Again.

I think I'm done with motorcycles but one never really knows. I'm really too immature to ride motorcycles. No regard for my own safety. But, Copper Canyon in Chihuahua keeps calling my name. I love it there and have no fears of traveling there by motorcycle.

i've owned at least 30 so they're too numerous to list. My favorite is the Honda CBR 1100XX. I've owned 3, a 97,98 and 2000. The 97 was my favorite though. Rode it from Texas up to Minnisota, across to Washington, down through California and across back to Austin. I took the 2000 to Florida and back last year. Extremely fast but maybe the most versatile bike I ever owned. Great around town and big enough to throw bags on and tour as well.
First one is the 2000 second one is the 97

Back when I was 20, I hitch-hiked across the US and worked as a shipper's helper at a rubber hose factory in Stoughton, Massachussetts. I worked there for six months, and with the money I made, I bought a used 250 Yamaha (back when they still made two-strokes, and a typical 350 Yamaha could compete against (and beat) the 750 Triumphs and HD's. I rode the Yamaha back to California by way of Canada (over Lake Superior) and New Mexico, and thru the Mojave.

Now I kinda wished I'd bought a good bicycle instead, but I wasn't quite into bicycles at that phase of my life. Would have been nice to have ridden a bike with panniers across the US. Would have made the trip much longer, but more satisfying, and that kind of thing was just starting to get popular then...

First bike was a '75 Suzuki GT250 and then a '74 Honda CB550. Back in 1978 I did my first cross-country ride on a '77 Suzuki GS750. I took 6 weeks and did over 7,000 mi. solo. Went from CT to Seattle down the coast to San Diego and back east via Grand Canyon back to CT.

My most recent trip was down to Deal's Gap for a Ducati rally and then on to Charleston, SC to meet up with a guy I grew up with back in Hackensack, NJ. We were 10 yrs. old when we met back in 1956. Made a 1,000 mi. ride home in 15 hrs. because my son texted me to say his mom (my estranged wife) was dying of cancer.

Honda 400F - 1976: jeebus - a redline of 10,500 in an engine that ran like a sewing machine. Totaled it outside of Maxwell AFB. Was scooped up by the base ambulance and taken to the hospital where I also worked. Road-rash - all over. They made me stay in the hospital due to that alone...couldn't send me to the dorm. Got a visit from a USAF jag who questioned me about the accident. I assume that they wanted to court-marshal me. Didn't happen though. Moved back into cycling.

I had a 75 CB400F, all red. Many cases of canyon crazies in the hills around L.A. It was a wonderful little bike. I bought it new for less than a thousand. After a while I figured out that it could walk a Harley till 90MPH when the Harley's torque would win the day. Two of my friends also had red 75s, one even set it up for cross country touring. Sadly, mine disappeared from the garage of my apartment one night. The sound still pulls my heart.

"He who serves all, best serves himself" Jack London

Originally Posted by Bjforrestal

I don't care if you are on a unicycle, as long as you're not using a motor to get places you get props from me. We're here to support each other. Share ideas, and motivate one another to actually keep doing it.

I've been motorcycling since the mid 70s. I've had about 30 different motorcycles. Currently I have a Scorpa SY250 trials bike, Montesa Cota 348 vintage trials, and ride a BMW 1200GS on the street. Plus my old RZ350 track bike in the barn, waiting to be put back on the street, and a couple other bikes.

I seem to switch focus between cycling and motorcycling. I went through a motorcycle only phase for a while, mostly doing trials competition. Then when I got out of shape and turned 40 I started cycling so I'd be in better shape for trials, and cycling gradually took over my two wheeled time. Now I just ride the GS to work.

I also had a BMW R100RS, a '77. Best fairing ever, and an excellent pillion bike. My wife still misses it.

I had a 75 CB400F, all red. Many cases of canyon crazies in the hills around L.A. It was a wonderful little bike. I bought it new for less than a thousand. After a while I figured out that it could walk a Harley till 90MPH when the Harley's torque would win the day. Two of my friends also had red 75s, one even set it up for cross country touring. Sadly, mine disappeared from the garage of my apartment one night. The sound still pulls my heart.

This is my first post in the 50+ group since I am 50 so I guess it's ok. I'm a "anything on two wheels" guy so here's a partial list of my motorized bikes, at least the important ones.
Mid 70's CZ 250 My first motorcycle. I inherited it from my older brother.
1972 Suzuki T500 Titan Set up as a cafe racer. My first true roadbike and the first bike I took on a race track.
1976 Penton/KTM 400 Fun dirt bike except for the motosplat ignition.
1978 Yamaha RD400 Also set up to race.
1982 Suzuki Katana (1000cc) My first brand new bike. Wish I still had this one. Unfortunately it had an untimely death at the hands of a vacationing motorhome driver.
1984 Yamaha FJ600 The most under-rated midsized bike of the day. I owned four of these because I raced for Yamaha between 84-88. The height of my impressive roadrace career.
1986 Suzuki GSXR 750 It had a full race Yoshimura engine with Ohlins suspension. I still have this bike but it's highly modified now. It's got the (near) stock engine back in it. It has modern wheels/tires on it and traxxion dynamics cartridge forks to go with the Ohlins shock on the back. This bike is a hoot!
1986 Yamaha YZ490 Yamaha gave me this bike to train on. It is/was quite a bit peppier than a stock 490! I actually raced in the return of the Elsinore Grand Prix (1996?). I came in 21st out of 900+. not bad. The funny thing was that in all my years of roadracing I never got my picture in or on CycleNews (or any other mag for that matter) but I ended up on the cover and a couple pics inside on my dirtbike!
1988 Husqvarna 510 TEL Fun bike but had reliability issues.
2006 Husqvarna 610 TE This is my main desert bike now. It's great fun.
I don't have too many pics but here are a couple. The last one is me trying to get my 510 out of a tree. Desertfun.jpgmotorcycle.jpgs_loop.jpg

I stopped riding motorcycles, in part, because it was too easy not to ride my bicycles when they were around. As I remember these were the bikes of my past:

1975 Honda CL 360 Scrambler - a nice bike with which to get started
1977 Honda CB 750K7 - Reliable, reliable, reliable, reliable.... what more can I say
1977 Kawasaki Kz1000 - More bike than I could handle at the time
1984 Honda Shadow VT 700 - My Harley wanna be stage, but hard on my lower back
1995 Suzuki VX 800 - A very, very sweet ride...
1986 BMW K1100RS - A bike I could ride forever.

I started in 1972 with a Honda SL 125K1, began racing motocross and riding hare scrambles in 1973. Owned over 25 different MX bikes, still have the last one, a 2002 YZ 426FP Yamaha. Rode several different street crotch rockets in the early 80's, the most memorable was a GS 750E Suzuki, with the full Yosuimura superbike treatment, bars, air filters, 4-1 racing header and expensive tires, amongst the money suckers on it. Raced from 2002 until 2009, in MX with my son , John, worth every minute and every dollar to spend all the time with him. Taught him how to do all the mechanic part , too. I was a competition member of AMA D37 desert Masters (50+) division until last year, member of Racers Under the Son, desert club.
Some of the makes I have owned over the years:Honda,Ossa, Suzuki, Maico, Husqvarna, Yamaha and Kawasaki.

Bill

Last edited by qcpmsame; 07-05-12 at 05:56 AM.

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

But I know from many messages on many threads that a lot of our friends use both engine powered and human powered 2 wheelers.

Maybe people would like to read about our best rides - machines and experiences.

I'll start

Lambretta LI 125, age 16, went from North Yorkshire to Dorset and back, 400 mile round trip, in rendezvoux with my first girlfriend. I wouldn't recommend it

Triumph Tiger Cub, 200 cc, used it every month Yorkshire to Brighton, 200 miles each way, for 3 years. I would wholeheartedly recommend it

Yamaha YAS 1, 125 2 cylinder 2 stroke. What a wonderful bike. Used for long motorway trips, over 7,000 over 5 years, it'd sit on a motorway at 70 mph, vastly more than anyone could expect from a 125.

Kawasaki Z400. Unfashionable - but oil tight and a better copy of a Triumph Tiger than the original. Yorkshire to Fez in Morocco twice, and my commuter all around Yorkshire doing a training job, going to shift change mills with an overhead projector on the carrier, winter and summer

However, if I were to compare the m.cycles to the pedal cycles, I'm equally fond of my Specialised Sirrus Triple (1990 lugged steel) as I was of my Africa Twin - neither the fastest, neither am I, but strong and steady

Never got into motorcycles, when I was in my late teens, I had one friend killed, rear-ended a tractor trailer the resulting fire left the only way to identify the remains was through dental records and the tag on the motorcycle. Another friend was looking at a couple of pretty girls, instead of where he was going hit the back end of a parked car, went through the back window of not that car, but another car parked in front of it. He graduated two years later then the rest of us.... So I skipped the motorized bikes, thinking of adding a scooter or ebike to the herd though.....

If you're into adventure-type bikes, check out advrider.com for some great ride reports. I've been on that site since 2001 and it's a great source of info. I know a few folks from here hang out there also.